Barclays has been forced to sell shares worth more than £1.2bn for just £750m, triggering huge profits for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

It came as the two rivals yesterday exercised lucrative share ‘warrants’ in Barclays that they bought from Middle East investors. The shares, purchased at around £450m below their market value, will then be sold on to clients at a much smaller discount, with the banks pocketing the difference.

The potential bonanza dates back to a deal made when Barclays went cap in hand to the Qatar sovereign wealth fund to raise emergency funds at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.

This ensured Barclays did not need a bail out from British taxpayers.

Barclays handed the Qatar Investment Authority, owned by its royal family, warrants which enabled it to buy shares at a fixed price of 198p at a future date. This generous offer, which riled some of Barclays’ existing shareholders, meant Qatar stood to make a big profit as long as the bank’s share price went up from rock-bottom levels.

These warrants were then sold on by Qatar to Goldman and Deutsche last year for an undisclosed sum. Barclays is being investigated by authorities in the US and the UK over separate fees paid to Qatar as part of the fundraising.

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Goldman and Deutsche have already converted some of the warrants into shares and sold them to clients such as pension funds to cover their payment to Qatar. Yesterday they exercised the option to convert the remaining 379m warrants into shares before the option expires in October.

Shares in Barclays (down 1.35p to 326p) soared to a two-year high on Tuesday as the bank’s new broom Antony Jenkins unveiled his plans to overhaul the business and a rise in pre-tax profits. Barclays will use the £750m made from the deal to bolster its capital reserves. The deal showcases Goldman Sachs’ formidable reputation for making money.

Yesterday its boss Lloyd Blankfein revealed his single-minded drive.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, he said he has no plans to leave the bank.

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Referring to the financial crash, the controversial figure, who received a £8m package in 2011, admitted his firm was ‘near the scene of the accident’.

But he added: ‘Could you imagine giving up all this? Of course not. The combination of this being who I am and what I do and having absolutely no other interests makes me think this is what I’ll be doing for a while.’